Week 3 Sara

How is science fiction different to fantasy, according to Le Guinn?

According to Le Guinn, science fiction is a form of realism. Realism involves using realistic people, places and settings to create plausibility in storytelling. Of course, Le Guinn notes, "Fiction didn't happen". All fiction is a pretense, a suspension of reality that the reader happily partakes in. However, most fiction does not contradict fact; how people normally think, speak and interact is characteristic of the novel tradition. Both science fiction and fantasy commonly apply this characteristic to their works, however, according to Le Guinn, fantasy applies a different attitude about the suspension of reality. There is no pretense that what appears in fantasy works is anything other than pure imagination or 'could' happen in the 'real' world. The plausibility comes from the coherence to its man-made world, the world created by its author. Le Guinn concludes by stating "fantasy is an exercise of what may be our most divine and certainly is our most human capacity, the imagination."

References
Le Guin, U.K. (2005). Plausibility Revisited; Wha Hoppen and What Didn't. Retrieved from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html